In the early days of Marvel Studios, it wasn’t uncommon that a role like Steve Rogers aka Captain America went out to a huge amount of people to audition for it.
Folks such as John Krasinski (fan favorite to play Reed Richards), who at the time hadn’t made a film such as Michael Bay’s 13 Hours or taken over the Jack Ryan role for the Amazon series, but was known as simply Jim from The Office. Others that auditioned included Sebastian Stan, who would take on the Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier role. Stan wasn’t the only person give a second role in the MCU after attempting to play Captain America.
Well, Wyatt Russell admitted the other day to Good Morning America that he was also one of those many young actors who auditioned for the Rogers part over a decade ago. However, Russell ended up getting another super-soldier role in the MCU as he was selected to play John Walker aka U.S. Agent in their Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, being referred to in the show as the “new Captain America.”
Russell admitting it was his first Hollywood audition and that he clearly knew he wasn’t in the running to play Rogers. It was more about attempting the audition itself to see if acting was a good fit after his hockey career ended due to an injury. But when he was asked by Marvel to read for John Walker, he didn’t know what is was until he landed it.
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR EPISODE 1 OF THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER
In Episode 1, we see both Sam and Bucky dealing with a world post snap and Captain America. It starts off with Wilson on a mission for the U.S. government in Africa where Batroc has hijacked a military plane and is attempting to kidnap an officer. The action sequence is the meat of the episode as the rest attempts to explore the pair grasping with their grief and responsibilities.
After saving the day, Sam returns to his family in New Orleans and attempts to help his sister Sarah get a bank loan to help their business/family home. The bank manager seems to be more interested in getting a selfie with an Avenger than giving them a loan. He’s referred to as Uncle Sam by his two nephews, which could make for a badass patriotic superhero name if Wilson decides against using Captain America or Falcon once he gets the shield.
Bucky is still dealing with his PTSD from being a brainwashed assassin for HYDRA as he has a nightmare of killing an innocent witness and it’s revealed he’s the son of an elderly Japanese man he has befriended named Yori (not aware he killed his son). The pair are getting lunch at a Japanese restaurant when Bucky is set up on a date with Miki Ishikawa’s Leah. He’s also in therapy where he’s trying to make amends and is being evasive about the nightmare to Dr. Raynor.
During a presentation at the Smithsonian, Sam Wilson makes a speech with Don Cheadle’s Rhodey in attendance as he hands over the shield and they place it in a display case in the Captain America exhibit. It’s mentioned that Steve Rogers/Captain America is “gone,” but they don’t use the words “dead” and Sam’s military cohort Joaquin Torres aka Falcon asks him if Rogers is on a base on the Moon (a nod to S.W.O.R.D./Secret Invasion?).
It’s also revealed that the group Erin Kellyman’s Kari Morgenthau is involved with is called Flag-Smashers (a nod to the Cap villain) and seemingly are upset that things changed when people are brought back to life. Torres tries to infiltrate the group in Switzerland and attempts stop one of the masked members until it’s revealed that Desmond Chiam’s Dovich is enhanced with superhuman strength. I’ll be curious if they’ve got their hands on the super-soldier serum or some black market knockoff.
We’ll likely see that Zemo is connected to the group and his purple mask may indeed be linked to Thanos as the Flagsmashers seem to have thrived post-snap.
The episode ends with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker taking over the Captain America mantle as they give him the shield that Wilson handed over as he didn’t feel like it was his to keep.
During a chat with Entertainment Weekly to promote the upcoming Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winer Soldier, Marvel’s Kevin Feige finally responded to the Deadline rumor that Chris Evans was in talks to return to the MCU for undisclosed projects.
Kevin seems to refer to Evans’ own debunking on Twitter when he said “news to me.”
FEIGE: “I rarely answer no to anything anymore because things are always surprising me with what happens, but that rumor, I think, was dispelled rather quickly by the man himself.”
He could have easily side-stepped the question or given a non-answer but seemed to double-down on Evans’ tweet. There has been some speculation that we could see the death of Steve Rogers in Falcon, however, that has yet be confirmed. It’s worth pointing out that we don’t really see a lot of Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent and gives me the impression that he might last that long in the show.
Some merch spotted by Comic Book Movie has revealed that Erin Kellyman’s character in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is Karli Morgenthau, a young female incarnation of Captain America villain Flag-Smasher.
Morgenthau was the leader of an anti-nationalist organization known as ULTIMATUM (Underground Liberated Totally Integrated Mobile Army to Unite Mankind) in the source material, and while Karli is sporting a very different costume, it looks like she will take on a similar role in the Disney+ series.
Karli is seemingly in league with Baron Zemo’s plot to end superheroes and as set photos have revealed will likely have some interactions with George St. Pierre’s Batroc The Leaper.
The Falcon & The Winter Soldier begins airing on Disney+ starting March 19th.
While promoting their upcoming film Cherry, directors Joe and Anthony Russo spoke with the Lights Camera Barstool podcast (spotted and transcribed by The Playlist) and revealed they’d still love to get their hands on Marvel’s reboot of Wolverine. The pair continually brings up Wolverine and Secret Wars as things that could draw them back to Marvel Studios.
JOE RUSSO: “Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”
However, Joe advises that the studio give the franchise some time before jumping into a reboot.
JOE RUSSO: “I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”
We already got some signs from Marvel’s Kevin Feige they’re not in any rush to reboot as they’ve chosen to go with Fantastic Four first. It’s still unknown what they ultimately plan to do with Wolverine and the X-Men reboots. Even though, they’ve introduced things like S.W.O.R.D. and Madripoor that are directly connected to the X-Men comics.
There is a good chance they could be able to convince Marvel Studios to allow them direct a Wolverine or X-Men project if they’re that persistent about being able to play with the characters. They were able to bring new blood to both the Captain America and Avengers franchises, with the latter Marvel now hold the box office record for the highest grossing film as Avengers: Endgame toppled James Cameron’s Avatar.
Given their experience working with large groups of heroes and villains, The Russo Brothers could be alongside screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus might be the team to reboot the X-Men. We’ve already seen Marvel look at their existing directing bench for the Fantastic Four reboot as they announced in December that Spider-Man 3 director Jon Watts would be tackling it.
Wolverine certain could deserve to have his origin retold for the Marvel Cinematic Universe either connected to Alpha Flight or the Weapon X Program. I also believe that a project set during WWII giving them an excuse to have Wolverine in a period action-film. A solo project could give a new actor a great entry point and give the main X-Men reboot some space, as one of the big gripes that fans had with the Fox franchise is that Wolverine was the predominate character when he isn’t supposed to be.
Ryan Reynolds revealed on Twitter last month that one of the ideas they had for Deadpool 3 before the merger was convincing Hugh Jackman to end his retirement as they wanted Logan and Wade to do a road trip movie. They could also eventually meet up in an X-Force film.
It’s critical to have open, honest and healthy discussions around mental health. By retweeting #BellLetsTalk you can make a difference. In case that’s not enough, before Disney bought Fox, Deadpool 3 was gonna be a road trip between Deadpool and Logan. Rashomon style. For real.
Yesterday, news broke via Deadline that Chris Evans’ retirement from the Marvel Cinematic Universe was about to end with talks of the Avengers actor nearing a deal to reprise the Steve Rogers role for an upcoming MCU project and adding a second project could also be in play.
Chris Evans has taken to Twitter to seemingly respond to Deadline’s report stating “news to me” with a shrug emoji.
Deadline is quite reliable and actors connected to Marvel roles have been deceptive before when it comes to them publicly confirming casting reports or returns to various projects before the go-ahead from the studio. It’s also possible Evans’ return doesn’t come together and Avengers: Endgame is the final say on Steve Rogers.
Having an older Steve mentoring Sam Wilson in a Captain America 4 feature film feels like the play here, but I’m not sure that is something they’ll be ultimately attempt as they gave Rogers a solid ending that seemed to sit well with Chris Evans.
The actor signaling on Twitter he would stepping down from the role back in 2018.
There are other ways to have Evans return with his time-travelling to the late 1940s to meet up with Peggy Carter post-WWII and spends a lifetime with her, allowing some wiggle room to have him tackling The Cold War era threats to the United States and world peace via a team like The Invaders.
The role they were talking-up sounds larger than a simple cameo that could take more time than he currently has for other projects as he is about to begin filming Netflix’s $200 million budgeted spy film The Gray Man directed by The Russo Brothers. This might telegraph his work in California could conflict with current Marvel Studios productions such as Spider-Man 3, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness or even Thor: Love &Thunder.
Speaking of the Multiverse, there could be another timeline where Captain America fought through-out the entire WWII campaign beyond just taking down HYDRA and was able to hook up with other Marvel superheroes from that era.
It looks like Chris Evan‘s break as Captain America didn’t last that long.
Deadline is reporting Evans is closing-in on a deal to play Steve Rogers aka Captain America one more time for Marvel in an unnamed project at Marvel Studios. The outlet stops short from revealing what the project could be, either film or a Disney+ series, claim it’s much more substantial than a cameo potentially more in a supporting role.
In a move that is sure to rock the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sources tell Deadline that Chris Evans is cleaning the dust off his Captain America attire as he expected reprise the role in the MCU in some form. Still vague if deal as completely closed but insiders say its headed in that direction for Evans to return as Steve Rogers aka Captain America in at least one Marvel property with the door open for a second film. Sources add it’s unlikely to be a new Captain America installment and more likely to be like what Robert Downey Jr. did after Iron Man 3, appearing in films like Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming.
A Multiverse project feels like the most current thing he could be doing for Marvel Studios, however, he’s about to begin shooting Netflix’s spy flick The Gray Man for the Russo Brothers in California making it difficult for him to be flying to London or Atlanta anytime soon to shoot a bunch of scenes.
I personally would love to see an Invaders film/series that takes place during WWII since we really didn’t get that in Captain America: The First Avenger, the studio seemed to be squeamish about having one of their heroes taking on a group of real Nazis. A Multiverse project set within the WWII could allow Marvel to return to that era and explore the multiple superhero characters that fought alongside Cap and Bucky. Those include Namor, Union Jack, Spitfire, and the original android version of The Human Torch. Plus, there are many many other WWII era characters they could use that would likely never see the light of day elsewhere.
When Steve goes back to be with Peggy there is a possibility he had further adventures which could allow for the Invaders to come together in that timeline.
Then again, they could use the older version of Steve Rogers from Avengers: Endgame in a project as well.
Deadline reports that the Russo Brothers have chosen their next directorial effort after tackling the bank robbery film Cherry starring Tom Holland.
The Avengers: Endgame directors will tackle The Gray Man for Netflix, a spy film with a budget reportedly over $200 million making it the most expensive film at the streaming service to date. Adding that heavy-hitters Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans have been set to take the lead roles.
AGBO will also produce the action flick.
The action thriller is a deadly duel between killers as Court Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry’s at the CIA.
The script based on the Mark Greaney novel was penned by Joe Russo with some rewrites from Captain America franchise writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
To those who lurk in the shadows, he’s known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target. Always. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness.
But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there’s no gray area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive…
They’re hoping to begin filming next January in Los Angeles, California and various international locations yet to be determined. However, COVID-19 could cause issues for the project and we’ll be interested to see if they stick to shooting the film in the United States.
The project seems to be Netflix trying it’s best to wiggle-out of the wave of original films that look extremely generic despite their hefty budgets. Hiring the directors of the most successful film at the box office might payoff.
Also, there are nine novels in The Gray Man series which would allow Netflix/AGBO to turn the project into a franchise.
Ryan Gosling is attached for Universal’s Wolfman reboot from writer/director Leigh Whannell.
‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland Says They’re Passing Baton To Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova
Black Widow director Cate Shortland tells Empire in a newly published interview that instead of making the solo film an origin story for Scarlett’s Natasha Romanoff, they see is as passing the baton to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.
SHORTLAND: “[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” Shortland tells Empire. “And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
“In Endgame, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
The film has been expected to be released on November 6th, after Disney gave the film Eternal‘s original spot in the spring. However, it’s unknown if the film will get pushed to February 12th given the rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the United States which could be a problem for the studio attempting to earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the global box office.
Also, a new trailer is expected to be on the way after it was classified in the United Kingdom.
‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Actress Tessa Thompson Expects An Explosion of Diversity In Marvel’s Phase Four
In a recent interview for Variety, Thor franchise actress Tessa Thompson talked-up how Marvel’s Phase Four will be ramping-up representation in a big way.
THOMPSON: “I think in this next phase of Marvel, we’re really talking about what representation looks like in those spaces. Because the truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways, and if you can represent people that are of color, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it’s a pretty big deal.”
“There’s millions and millions of people, particularly young people, that show up to the cinema. And I think if you can show them something that looks like them, they feel valued. Particularly inside of these narratives of the comic books, that’s what it’s all about. It’s that our differences make us special.”
We know they’ll be making some strides soon with having Asian main leads in Eternals with Gemma Chan playing leading heroine Sersi and Shang-Chi with Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
Pakistani-American comedian/actor Kumail Nanjiani has a decently sized role in Eternals playing superhero Kingo and deaf actress Lauren Ridloff plays speedster Makkari in the film. We’ll also see openly gay parents played by Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) and Haaz Sleiman.
One of their upcoming Disney+ series Ms. Marvel will feature a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager from New Jersey named Kamala Khan.
Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced as the new actor to play a rebooted version of Blade in the MCU last summer and it remains to be seen if his version of the Daywalker in the Phase Five project will reflect his own Muslim faith.
Tessa’s own Valkyrie will be seeking her queen in Thor: Love & Thunder. Hopefully, Disney/Marvel will be more comfortable in the future to actually have non-hetero heroes leading their films, not just in supporting roles.
We’ll have to see what other doors they’ll be opening for characters/actors in the future, but as pointed out recently by Anthony Mackie the studio needs to do a better job of hiring a diverse group of people behind the camera as well.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor Excited To Work With Director Sam Raimi
While promoting his new Netflix film The Old Guard, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor expressed his excitement to work with director Sam Raimi on the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel titled Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
Chiwetel will be reprising his role as villain Baron Karl Mordo.
Raimi, who directed the original Spider-Man trilogy for Sony Pictures had replaced Scott Derrickson on the Doctor Strange sequel after there were “creative differences”
EJIOFOR: “I love Sam Raimi, so I’m very excited that he’s making a film, the second Doctor Strange. He brings to anything he does, a wealth of imagination and passion. In this genre, he’s just one of the seminal figures. I remember seeing Darkman when I was a kid. It was beyond, it’s so amazing.”
“So I think he has an incredible mind and I think he’s really able to bring that mind into his storytelling in a really unique way, and it’s very suited to the world that’s been created by Doctor Strange, and I’m very excited to see what he does with that world.”
The cast also includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange, Elizabeth Olsen taking a co-starring role as Scarlet Witch, and we’ll also see the return of Benedict Wong as Wong.
There is an expectation that both Disney+ series Loki and WandaVision will help establish the events of the sequel along with introducing the Multiverse.
Filming had been originally expected to begin in the spring/summer at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England along with exterior locations in Norway and New York City.
There is a slim possibility that filming could begin in the fall on the Doctor Strange sequel, but it’s unlikely they’ve been able to finish the set construction phase of prep to shooting anytime soon. Suggesting they could push the production start into 2021 as I believe they will for Spider-Man 3 as well.
Chris Evans Already Misses Playing Captain America
During an interview with Backstage, Captain America and Avengers star Chris Evans mentioned that he already misses the role. However, don’t get too excited about the potential of him returning to the role anytime soon.
EVANS: “I absolutely loved my time with Marvel. I already miss it, but there’s no denying that it is very exciting to just have complete freedom to pursue whatever my creative appetite wants.”
We know Evans has been linked for a supporting lead role in the new Little Shop of Horrors incarnation from Warner Bros. and we’ll see Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson eventually take on the Captain America mantle in his Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood Hopeful She’ll Pivot Back To ‘Spider-Man’ Spinoff ‘Silver & Black’
The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood has revealed to GamesRadar+ that she would be open to returning to Sony’s Silver & Black at some point. The project is a Spider-Man spinoff that would have paired talented thief Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat and mercenary Silver Sablinova aka Silver Sable in their own movie.
Gina sounds open to the idea of returning to the project once Sony is ready to make it.
PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: “My honest answer is I don’t know. I really love those characters, I loved having them together. I thought, what we came up with was a really good, really organic way to have the two together. That world is changing so much because of the success of the Spider-Man films.”
“There’s a question of, ‘Can you really have these films with Spider-Man not in them? Should he at least have some sort of part in them?’ That’s always the question. I’ve taken two years off of that for [The Old Guard] so once this gets out into the world, I hope it’s a success, and then I’ll certainly go back and start talking with them again.”
In the wake of Gina leaving to make The Old Guard, Sony announced plans to split the project into two separate films. They haven’t updated since and Prince-Bythewood had suggested previously that a possible Disney+ series was being considered.
Sony has been hellbent on getting together as many Spider-Man spinoff films in development as possible after the massive success of Tom Hardy’s Venom at the box office back in 2018.
In 2021, we’ll see the release of both Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the latter project confirmed with its teaser trailer the film is directly connected to Spider-Man: Homecoming after featuring Michael Keaton’s Vulture in a scene. It remains to be seen how much involvement if any we’ll see from Marvel Studios concerning these spinoffs and if they’ll be allowed to call themselves part of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Here is is a collection of some interesting news, tidbits, and rumors concerning the world of live-action Marvel projects from the last couple of weeks.
Chris Evans Isn’t Interested In Reprising ‘Captain America’
While addressing if he is truly done with the Captain America role, Chris Evans said the following on The Graham Norton Show (via Digitial Spy).
EVANS: “Yes, I think it is. It was a great run and we went out on such a high note that it would be risky to revisit it in my opinion. It was such a good experience and I think it’s better left that way.”
Despite establishing that Old Man Rogers is alive at the end of Avengers: Endgame, Chris Evans tells that he isn’t eager to return to the Captain America role anytime soon. This isn’t shocking given that the mantle is being passed on to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson with the transition taking place in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
J.K. Simmons Says He’s Signed On For Multiple ‘Spider-Man’ Movie
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was revealed that J.K. Simmons would be reprising the role of Spider-Man’s media nemesis J. Jonah Jameson after playing the character in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. The character is the one to reveal to the public that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is Spider-Man and attempts to frame him for the murder of Quentin Beck.
Simmons has briefly mentioned to PeopleTV (via Entertainment Weekly) that he is signed-on for sequels but the studio isn’t exactly obligated to have him return.
SIMMONS: “I don’t know if I would use the word expect. It’s great to have the opportunity, as these things evolve, to be one of the holdovers from the previous version.”
This could mean that he’ll be returning for Spider-Man 3 but likely hasn’t been told if he is or not. An assumption I think we all made after the cliffhanger ending of the last film that could allow him to play a much larger role in future films. It might also support previous online rumblings pointing towards J. Jonah potentially showing up in films like Morbius and Venom 2, given that Sony Pictures seems keen on establishing their Spider-Man Cinematic Universe.
Josh Trank Says 20th Century Fox Blocked Him From Casting A Black Actress To Play Sue Storm In ‘Fantastic Four’
While speaking with Geeks of Color recently to promote his Tom Hardy gangster film Capone, Fantastic Four director Josh Trank revealed that he was pushing for a black actress to portray the role of Sue Storm in Fantastic Four.
Josh indicates that 20th Century Fox was behind that not happening, despite allowing him to cast Michael B. Jordan as her brother Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch.
TRANK: “There were a lot of controversial conversations that were had behind-the-scenes on that. I was mostly interested in a black Sue Storm, a black Johnny Storm, and a black Franklin Storm. But when you’re dealing with a studio on a massive movie like that, everybody wants to keep an open mind to who the big stars are going to be.”
“When it came down to it, I found a lot of pretty heavy pushback on casting a black woman in that role.”
Studios being fearful of women of color in leading roles isn’t shocking or new.However, superhero diversity is something I think we can all rally around given and we’ll be curious to see how Marvel Studios ultimately recasts both their Fantastic Four and X-Men reboots.
Trank also mentioned on Twitter (before deleting/deactivating his account) that he isn’t interested in releasing a director’s cut of Fantastic Four.
Rumored Working Title of ‘Hawkeye’ Series Is ‘Anchor Point’
Our pal Charles Murphy over at Murphy’s Multiverse is claiming that the working title for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Hawkeye series will be Anchor Point. Working titles are normally used strictly during pre-production and the shooting of projects.
However, when that show might begin shooting is a little unclear at the moment with a handful of other Disney+ shows that haven’t fully completed their filming and there is some uncertainly concerning when new stuff like Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Knight that hasn’t even started will begin production given the backlog they’re undergoing at the moment due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
If filming is indeed going to move forward this fall in Atlanta, Georiga on Hawkeye, we’re likely to get some official casting news concerning the Kate Bishop role in the not too distant future.
Evan Peters Rumored For Mystery Role In ‘WandaVision’
Another cool story coming from Charles Murphy suggests the possible casting of X-Men and American Horror Story actor Evan Peters in a mysterious key role for Marvel’s WandaVision.
However, the report clearly is under the impression that Peters is playing a new character and is unlikely standing in for Aaron Johnson’s Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver.
Despite blog and fan speculation that this could mean the Singerverse is carrying over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe if Peters is indeed playing a character other than Quicksilver, this would finally cement that Marvel is rebooting the main X-Men franchise (excluding Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool) and going to recast all of the roles, not just Wolverine.
‘WandaVision’ Might Resume Filming This July In Los Angeles
Speaking of other Marvel shows that haven’t completed their productions, Paul Bettany has seemingly revealed to the Tampa Bay Comic Convention that he cannot attend their convention this summer because the resumed filming of WandaVision is taking place next month.
Here is what the event posted on their Facebook page.
“We finally received word from Paul Bettany’s representation, and unfortunately Paul had to cancel his appearance at TBCC this year due being called back by Disney for WandaVision filming in July, in Los Angeles. We’re working on guest additions!“
However, it’s hardly confirmation as Marvel/Disney hasn’t made any official statements concerning the resuming of any of their projects. It’s worth considering Disney could be asking principal actors in their major projects to be on stand-by for the summer, just in case they do want to resume production sooner rather than later.
There have been indications that WandaVision is much further along than both The Falcon & The Winter Solider and Loki, so the filming needed to be done might be limited or potentially additional footage.
Will ‘Shang-Chi’ Resume Production In Australia Soon?
On the live-action front, Australia and New Zealand seem to be in much better shape to resume feature film productions sooner than the United States and possibly the United Kingdom.
Avatar 2 could very well resume production by the end of the month or sometime in July after director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau arrived in New Zealand last week.
We can theorize that Australian projects like Shang-Chi might be some of the first to resume even before major projects in other countries.
Shang-Chi unlikely projects like Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and Spider-Man 3 was shooting when Coronavirus outbreaks in the country led to the government telling studios to put a pause on filming.
When stuff like the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange sequels will be able to begin shooting is less clear given that Tom Holland is expected to shoot Uncharted first and if that production is delayed beyond the summer likely means Spider-Man 3 won’t begin shooting until 2021.
Doctor Strange 2 was undergoing new rewrites from Loki’s Michael with new director Sam Raimi jumping in for Scott Derrickson. While the UK government is keen for filming to resume in the country it might not be safe to resume this early, the same could be said about shoots in the United States as well.
Shang-Chi was also going to shoot in San Francisco (Agent of Atlas connection?) and Los Angeles which could likely happen later in the year. However, what is a bit unknown is if they’ll be able to shoot exterior stuff in the various Asian locations they wanted to use before the pandemic.
Has Actress Fala Chen Joined The Cast of ‘Shang-Chi’?
Some social media detective work from Murphy’s Multiverse writer Lizzie Hill suggests that newcomer Fala Chen might have joined the cast of Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings.
They also recently figured out that Solo: A Star Wars Story actress Erin Kellyman is expected to have an unnamed role in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
Simon Kinberg Open To Directing Another ‘X-Men’ Film For Marvel Studios
Lastly, Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg suggested to IGN that he’d be open to the possibility of returning to the X-Men franchise under the new management of Marvel Studios.
Simon Kinberg would absolutely direct an X-Men film for Marvel, if the opportunity came up. "I've dedicated a lot of my life to Logan and Deadpool and the X-Men and would love to do a fresh take." #XMen#DaysofFuturePast#WFHTheaterpic.twitter.com/Le0HwO8Rmg
After Dark Phoenix losing 20th Century Studios (owned by Disney at the time of release) around $100-130 million, I find it hard to believe that Marvel would consider having Kinberg anywhere near their new X-Men franchise. Having new creatives involved isn’t the worst idea and it’s about time to have more passionate people tackling these characters.
THE RONIN 